Rabbi Howard Cove spent nearly 30 years as a spiritual leader at Adath Tikvah Montefiore in Philadelphia, Temple Sinai in Dresher and Congregation Kol Emet in Yardley. At that last place, he served as senior rabbi from 1996-2014.
Throughout that time, Cove kept hearing from a subsection of Jews who did not fit neatly into the definition of synagogue congregant.
“They were proud to be Jewish and wanted more, but because of limitations, economics, personal schedules, personal choices, synagogues weren’t an option,” the rabbi explained.
The spiritual leader seemed to encounter more of these people as the years went on. So after he left Kol Emet, he created a place for them.
It’s called Beiteinu, and it means “our house.”
As Beiteinu.org explains, the synagogue “takes the spiritual life out of the traditional sanctuary and brings it to spaces and places where you are.” The website also describes it as “a synagogue without walls.” Cove will come to you for marriages, baby naming ceremonies, bar and bat mitzvahs, memorial services and funerals.
Every Wednesday, he hosts a Torah study on Zoom with 10-15 people. Each Thursday, he gathers a minyan on Zoom. And every Friday, he leads a Shabbat service on Facebook Live. Forty people may log on for the initial prayer session, but hundreds watch it over the weekend.
“I wanted to create a place that offered familiarity in terms of traditions, the Jewish messages, our value system,” Cove said. “But I wanted to do it in a way that didn’t cost a lot. And I wanted it to be doable in terms of the schedule.”
In August 2014, the rabbi decided to test his idea. He organized a service at Lucy the Elephant in Margate, New Jersey. Cove and his wife, Staci Levick, posted fliers up and down Atlantic Avenue and started a Facebook page. More than 100 people showed up.
“The reason I started at the beach was because I didn’t have any kind of foundation,” Cove said. “But I knew as a Philadelphian that Margate was packed for the summer.”
Sometime after the service, the rabbi connected with a family in Lafayette Hill that didn’t belong to a synagogue but wanted to put their child through Hebrew school. Those parents then talked to others, and the first class was in their dining room.
Cove had always admired the Chabad model of a rabbi and rebbetzin rooting themselves in a community and providing whatever it needs. While the rabbi and Levick were not exactly doing that with one specific town or neighborhood, they were trying to do it for the Philadelphia region.
Cove calls his wife, a former ear, nose and throat surgeon, the business end of Beiteinu. In the early years, it was Levick who got into Facebook groups like Jews of the Northeast and Jews of the Main Line to spread the word.
Today, Cove does 20-30 bar and bat mitzvahs, 20-30 weddings and 80-100 funerals per year. About 400 people signed up for High Holiday services last fall. This past year, the rabbi had 43 students across four religious school classes. Beiteinu families come from Bucks County, Montgomery County and Center City.
“I’m a busy man,” the rabbi said.
(Photo by Monique Brand)
Levick has been married to Cove for 15 years. Occasionally, her son attends her husband’s services. Her son believes in God but is “not into the whole religion thing,” she said. Yet after he attends a Cove service, he tells his mom, “You’re not bored.”
“He makes it relatable,” Levick said of the way her son explains it.
Beiteinu has no address, no property, no geographic location. Post-COVID, it does not even have regular in-person meeting spots. But on Aug. 18, Cove plans to return to the physical spot that started it all: Lucy in Margate.
He’s hosting a 10th anniversary Shabbat service for Beiteinu. Thirty-five people have RSVPed so far. The rabbi is also hoping to bring back in-person gatherings throughout the year. Before the pandemic, his congregants met on one Friday night a month at Yardley Friends Meeting on North Main Street.
On an upcoming Friday, they will get together at the Plymouth Friends Meeting on Butler Pike. The plan for the coming Jewish year, 5784, is to organize four or five in-person services.
“This kind of model just works for me personally. I want to say yes to as many people as I can,” Cove said. “I don’t have to consult a board president or go to a committee. I just say we’re going to make it work.”
